everyonelives | you're gonna love tomorrow, i'm making it my personal guarantee

( Are fine. He's fine. But, they have to talk. Why do they have to talk. He brings his legs up, resting his arms against them.

( He indicates Caroline. )

She saved me. Do I owe her?

No, not like that.

[She takes a breath, because this is always the hardest part. The moment between information and acceptance is difficult because no one wants to deal with death. Death has a kind of finality to it, even for vampires.

You were human. But now you're not.]

Caroline gave you her blood, but that wasn't the end of the attack. The hunters tried to take us all out and in the process, you were shot.

[He can probably see it, if he looks down at his clothes. Holes ragged and stiff with blood, but no corresponding holes on his skin, with them having healed by now.]

You died, Stiles. You're in transition. I'm so sorry.

Yeah. More than once. I - I shielded you. You didn't --

( And then Elena speaks again. Stiles knows what that means. He does his own supernatural research. Between him and Allison, they realized that species split off. )

Vampire. Peter Hale or bust, right? ( He huffs out a laugh at Lydia, stretching his legs back out. ) So, it's fang up or, death down.

[Elena's brow furrows, as this is not the reaction she was expecting. She glances to Lydia who is rolling her eyes to the ceiling, so at least this must be normal to Stiles.]

Yes. You have a choice. If you want, we can get you human blood, and you can complete the transition, or you can decide not to and we'll make you comfortable. But you can't leave until you make one of those choices.

[Too many people who wanted to go one way and wound up going another. Lydia speaks up after that.

"Scott and Allison are on their way here. He doesn't want you to make that choice until he does."]

I have... adding in when this happened, 19 hours, right?

( What he doesn't say is he's made up his mind. If he has to go on and has to have fangs, then so be it. He'll dad will understand. If if not, Melissa McCall will. (No, his dad will.) This complicates his job and the sudden idea he'll need a sabbatical. His mind is racing as the night before/early morning plays out again. )

Scott's coming? I'm not dying. And McCall-Mikaelson: New Orleans, they're good? ( To Elena. ) You mentioned blood?

["You were dead, Stiles."

Lydia's just going to leave it at that, because please don't judge her for making a big deal out of this. It is a big deal. She knows Stiles and the way he processes things - he frontloads until there's no longer a problem to solve.

But that doesn't make it less frustrating. He may have been dead for the last few hours, but Lydia was the one who had to sit here with it.

But Elena will nod after that.]

Yeah. We'll probably get you some from the blood bank here, and then Caroline will teach you how to vampire. She's also the queen of vampire self-control so ... hopefully some of that will rub off on you.

[Being her vampire descendant and all.]

Well, not going to sugarcoat it. I'll be your Apt Pupil. Vampirism, it amplifies everything, so, hello vampire ADHD.

( Which doesn't preclude him to pulling himself forward and off the bed to pull Lydia out of her chair and into his arms. )

Hey. I died. But, I didn't di-iiiie. But, fuck if he doesn't mar her breathing as he clings. ) I'm okay, Lydia.

[Elena and Caroline share a look over Elena's shoulder and Caroline shrugs.

"I'm still an overachiever. I will make it work somehow."

But with that, they'll leave Stiles and Lydia to their moment. Elena will head off to text Jo about them needing an extra blood bag, presuming she got her phone back at some point, and they'll disappear behind the curtain.

Lydia, on the other hand, pushes up on her toes and curls into his shoulder. It's good to actually be able to speak with him again, to have him hold her like this, but last night was a very long night and she's still feeling a bit fragile.]

You're not out of the woods yet. I'm not sure that counts as okay.

Unless I'm kept from human blood, I'm as good as good. Just keep me away from any windows. And, don't bleed.

( What! He has jokes. )

You heard Caroline. I'll have the best vampire tutor.

[And the Winchesters. But she doesn't want to put that kind of pressure on him right out the gate.]

Caroline's really nice.

[That's all she really knows about her so that's all she can comment on.]

I'm sure you're in good hands.

Hey. Lydia. Breathe. I know, it's not optimal, but haven't I been through worse? Just - don't cry for me, okay, Argentina? I'm okay. Promise me. When Scott and Allison get here? And just - make sure no nurses come in for any turndown service or shade opening.

( All that. )

Don't worry, Caroline's got that covered. She's been compelling people all night.

[She looks up at him with a small half smile.]

And I know, you're right. It's just ... been a really long night.

Yeah. You were in the car, too. You are? Okay? No internal bleeding? Because I've seen that episode of Grey's Anatomy at midnight.

( He cups her face, too, just to make sure. )

[She nods.]

Caroline gave me some blood too, but I'm okay.

[She just needs some sleep. Maybe a good cry. We'll see what she'll have time for.]

( This is ... not the time to kiss your ex, right? He ignores that impulse and steps back, shielding himself from the sudden brightness of the room's fluorescents. )

Do you mind flipping off the lights?

[Probably not the best plan, especially not when she's having complicated feelings about one of the local vampires.

But that's not a problem for Stiles to worry about. Instead, she nods and goes dim the lights.]

Are your senses starting to adjust?

Struggling, but, yeah. Trying to start.

( One hand grasps the bed behind him as he squints and tries to reorient again. )

They won't. Unless I feed. It'll be Haywire without Gina Carano and Channing Tatum.

Well, hopefully Scott and Allison will get here soon. They were supposed to have a fairly early flight, then Sam was going to pick them up.

[A lot happened while Stiles was ... sleeping.]

I'm drinking whether they get here beforehand or not. I'm doing this, Lydia.

( A beat, though. )

Sam Winchester?

I think it's more he was concerned he wouldn't see you before you died, if you decided not to. But I know, Stiles.

[She wasn't one hundred percent sure while he was out, but seeing him now, of course he was going to. Why wouldn't he?]

Yeah. He and Dean are in town.

( He knows about he and Dean, he did play surveillance suit.

"Scott can't save everyone."

Outside, someone got Elena's message, but they were pulled away. Since Ezra is now an ally, sudden or not, he's sent back to Elena's room only to -- )

...Elena.

Ezra, hey.

[She sits up a little more and offers him a smile in return. She looks a lot better than she was when he last saw her.]

Thank you. Caroline told me what you did - I really appreciate it.

Yeah. Well. We look out for one another. ( Doctors. He looks down at the blood bag in his hand, stepping further in so tha the can close the door again, like most people have been doing. ) Dr. Laughlin says Stiles decides.

( "That's me," Stiles says, stepping out from the curtain. )

Both of you are - okay.

( He holds it in his hand a minute longer before finally offering it to Stiles, letting Caroline step in if she wants to walk him through the -- sucking. But, his eyes stay on Elena because -- )

Close call.

[Caroline will step in, taking the blood bag from them and usher Stiles back to his side of the room, so they can walk through what he might experience, all the pros and cons, et cetera et cetera. The big so you want to be a vampire speech.

But while they're doing that boring part, Elena and Ezra can talk.]

Yeah, it was.

[A beat.]

One of the students at the high school is a healer. I'm going to have to play patient for a little while longer, but I'll be okay.

Healer. That's -

( Powerful. He doesn't ask further. Witch... something more. He doesn't know what Elena is - shouldn't. )

- a lucky break. Caroline told you. About my secret.

( He needs to play this off just right. )

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